Six-figure marketing campaign to be developed for Bauer's scottish radio stations - from The Drum

Rédigé le Dimanche 3 Juillet 2011 à 14:20 | Lu 171 commentaire(s)

In a major in-depth profile in The Herald business pages yesterday (Saturday), Graham Bryce declared that he is happy with the way the German conglomerate’s two biggest stations – Radio Clyde and Radio Forth - are responding to an extensive change culture.
He told business writer Mark Williamson: “This isn’t a simple job. There are 13 stations in Scotland, which do quite significant revenues and profits.
“It was the challenge and excitement of bringing Scotland together and revitalizing the brands and products that was the excitement for me, and also working within Bauer.”
The Herald reports that when he was appointed two years ago Bryce talked about achieving a step change in the business Bryce says whenever people make changes in an organisation some employees will be concerned. However, he said he has never experienced any hostility.
“I think there was an inherent feeling in the business that maybe things had to change - maybe that we had to refresh the way we were doing things. I certainly have met no resistance internally,” he insisted, which Williamson pointed out may be surprising given the scale of the changes Bryce has made - particularly at Clyde and Forth.
He quotes Bryce as saying: “What we have spent most time on is two things. The central belt is the most competitive place that we are in. When I came in Radio Forth was struggling from an audience point of view. We’ve refreshed that.
“Clyde was struggling like a lot of number one businesses to understand how to go forward - not back, I think, and we’ve spent a huge amount of work with the team, bringing them together, making them part of the process... a huge project about what the brand stands for, getting back to basics about who is Radio Clyde, what are we, what do we stand for, what don’t we stand for so we can nail that to the mast.”
Asked what Clyde does stand for, Bryce explained: “It’s a brand that is all about connecting people in the west of Scotland, it’s about creating conversations; it’s about being a companion to people’s lives here.”
A believer in the importance of brand values since his XFM days, Bryce said extensive efforts had been spent on ensuring staff bought in to the Clyde identity and that all its operations reflected its values. A brand book is on prominent display in the company’s HQ.
“We have been through that exercise, we’ve literally changed the whole presenter line-up in the daytime; we’ve changed the music policy; we’ve changed the on-air imaging in terms of what we stand for, the whole thing is about bringing Clyde back to life.”
He admitted that he had not yet achieved the desired step change and expected it would take another six months to reinvigorate Radio Forth, where he believes a less radical approach is required than at Clyde.
An evolutionary approach will also be adopted at the other 11 stations - including NorthSound 1 and 2 in Aberdeen. If all goes to plan, he explained, this should be completed within the next 12 months.
However Bryce stressed that he is convinced that the company is on the right lines - with Clyde’s audiences at a five-year high in terms of reach ...and “Forth is back to number one on all measures.”
Last month Bauer said the latest Rajar audience data showed that Clyde 1 and Clyde 2 reached 701,000 listeners weekly, a combined five-year high for the stations.
“Despite the difficult economic climate our revenues and profits grew last year. I think for any business in this climate we’re pretty happy with that,” said Bryce.
In coming months, he indicated, moves could be expected to enhance the stations’ multi-media offering that will include attempts to develop one-to-one relationships with customers. And there was scope to generate new revenue streams from events such as Radio Clyde-promoted concerts.
The head of the family-owned company, Heinz Bauer, has been a frequent visitor to Scotland since Bryce was appointed. “He is a very hands-on operator, very interested in the business and very product-orientated. He loves coming in and meeting people, he comes over regularly and talks to us,” says Bryce.
“You don’t get to where he is without being a good businessman but he is a gentleman, courteous and respectful.”
Bryce admitted that he would one day like to own his own business but is in no rush to move on to the next course. “There’s so much more that we can do here,” he pointed out.
As a young chartered accountant, Graham Bryce got a life-changing glimpse of the high life - in the south of France.
Reports Williamson: “As a member of accountancy giant KPMG’s specialist media unit, Bryce had to help schmooze potential clients at a round of parties around the Cannes film festival.
He quotes Bryce: &ld